


Admiring

by asoulofstars



Series: A Mess You Would Wear With Pride [21]
Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Admiration, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Communication, Cuddling, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Nudity, Tattoos, Topless Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asoulofstars/pseuds/asoulofstars
Summary: Set the morning after "Scars", Riona and Shawn get a good look at each other in the morning light.
Relationships: Shawn Spencer/Original Female Character(s), Shawn Spencer/Riona Gallagher
Series: A Mess You Would Wear With Pride [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028376
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Admiring

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes, I just gotta have self-indulgent fluff and dorky moments.

Riona woke up snug in Shawn’s arms, listening to his heartbeat under her ear. She pressed a kiss to his bare chest, amazed and warm as she remembered the vulnerability and intimacy of last night. His heart surgery scar glistened in the morning light, stark white against his chest, and she traced it with her eyes. Even though Shawn slept like the dead, she didn’t want to disturb his slumber. So, she laid still against him, just looking over the bits of him she could see without moving her head. She reached behind her for the nightstand she’d set her phone on, and she sent in a quick text to Chief Vick. Unless an active homicide happened today, she wouldn’t be in. She wanted to spend her time with Shawn, especially since she would be leaving in just about a week for her conference.

“Like what you see?” Shawn mumbled, voice slightly hoarse in that just-woke-up groggy haze.

Riona flushed, pink creeping up her neck. She didn’t realize she was _that_ obvious. He grinned at her, tapping her nose with a finger. Riona pulled the sheets tighter around herself, and she let out a slow breath.

“I do. You’re quite easy on the eyes.” She gave him a little half smile, given that it was nothing he didn’t already know. “Your bed head is really something.” She fluffed his already rumpled hair.

“You had to know it took some grooming for my hair to look that good,” he teased.

“Okay, now I’m disappointed. I thought that your hair just always stayed perfectly fluffy and in place, so tantalizingly soft looking and begging for it to be ruffled.” Riona grinned at him.

“You are free to ruffle it any time.” He grinned back. “Unless there’s a chance of me getting on camera. Then it has to be perfect.”

Riona giggled, and she kissed his shoulder. “Is breá liom tú,” she said and nuzzled him.

“You’re not insulting me, are you?” he asked, running his fingers down her spine.

“Nope. Not at all.” She arched her back into his touch, eyes slipping closed, like a cat; she could feel his fingertips had sustained some damage, though she wasn’t entirely sure how.

“Tu is you, right? Irish is weird.” He gave her back a scratch.

“ _Ohhh_. It’s _Gaelic_ , not Irish,” she corrected. “And it’s not _weird_. Tu is also you in Spanish.”

“Si, Senorita,” Shawn replied. “Gaelic is still weird.”

Riona rolled her eyes at him and rolled off his chest, settling into the pillows that had been neglected in favor of Shawn. He frowned, reaching for her.

“I just want to admire you,” she told him, twining her fingers through his. “I don’t get to see you like this very often.”

“Like what?” he asked, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Relaxed.” She traced his scars, eyeing his split lip and the bruises that were starting to form across his cheek bones. “Even though you’re hurt.”

“It’s not that bad.” He gave her a small shrug.

Riona raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to play this game with me?” she asked.

“What game?” he replied.

Riona flexed her fingers, and she pulled the sheets down so she could see Shawn better. She paused and tilted her head.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” She traced the _BG_ on his ribcage.

“Oh, yeah. I was nineteen; I missed Gus. He doesn’t know I did this.” He shrugged. “Found someone who was good at handwriting and took one of the letters Gus sent me.” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Don’t tell Gus about it; he would freak.”

“I won’t.” Riona smiled. “But I _will_ lecture you about your broken ribs, and the fact that you are gonna _feel_ this fight for a while.”

Shawn shrugged again. “Figured.”

Riona ran her fingers over his surgery scar. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked, thinking about all the complications that could happen after heart surgery for an abnormal valve, even years later.

“Riona, the doctors took a real good look at everything after I got shot. Trust me; I’m fine.” He reached for his bedside table. “I’ll even take my medication now to make you feel better.”

Riona smiled. “Appreciated.”

She continued to eye him as he sat up a little to take his pill, dry swallowing it. Despite the bruising from fighting with the US Marshal, he really was amazing to look at. The morning light came through the window and highlighted his tattoo; his hair was a mess, and as he stretched, she could see how his muscles flexed. He wasn’t overly muscular, but he was still built _very_ nicely. She rolled onto her stomach, and she lifted her legs up in the air, crossing her ankles. He grinned and rolled onto his side after taking his pill, and he started tracing her tattoo again.

“This is your handwriting. Brooklyn did a great job, given the stick and poke aspect and trying to mimic your handwriting.”

Riona flushed. She should have known he would turn the tables. “So it’s your turn now?” she tried to joke.

“Of course. I’m much more interested in your back than your chest, though.” He was just tracing every bit of her back that he could.

“Well, boobs aren’t fun to look at when you’re lying flat. They just become pancakes.”

Shawn chuckled. “Pancake boobs are still beautiful.” He nosed at her shoulders, and he kissed her back.

She could tell it was right in the center of the _o_ in Soll’s name. She rolled onto her side, and she put a hand on his cheek. He gave her a soft smile.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” he asked, smile slipping.

“Not today,” she replied.

Shawn held her hand to his cheek, and he waggled his eyebrows at her. “Well, then what are we gonna do today?”

“Absolutely nothing strenuous,” she replied. “Not with your injuries.”

“Oh, that’s no fun,” Shawn whined.

“Yeah, how easy is it to breathe?” She gave him a pointed look.

He blinked slowly, lips pressed into a line. Riona just nodded, and she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He very gently pushed her shoulder back with two fingers.

“What?” she asked.

“Boobs,” he answered simply. “You said no pancake boobs.”

Riona laughed at him, and she supposed it was only fair. And she did bring up the boobs first. She blushed just a little at the way his eyes ran over her body, like a caress. His gaze was just so warm, and she wondered if he was starting to get closer to the same page. She’d tried to move on, tried to be happy that he was dating Abigail, but she just couldn’t do it. And now they were both single, and they had been spending more and more time together since he had been shot and they’d said _I love you_. She knew he had a gun to his head when it happened, but she also knew when he was telling the truth. And she knew Gus wouldn’t keep pushing her about talking if he didn’t think Shawn was telling the truth. So, all she had to do was wait, and she could do that. In the meantime, she could admire him.

“You know I have that conference coming up, and I won’t be around to play doctor for you. You have to actually be careful,” she told him.

“I will,” he promised. “How about we get up, and I treat you to a free breakfast by answering the movie trivia question right?”

Riona grinned. “That sounds like a good plan. Your movie trivia skills are beyond impressive.”

He beamed, and Riona felt her heart skip a beat. He really never was more beautiful than when he smiled.


End file.
